By Tom Hargreaves

The Qatar World Cup is finally here, and already, in the first round of fixtures in the group stage, we have seen upsets, thrashings, and fiercely contested match ups.

Starting off strong in group A, on Sunday, we saw a magnificent World Cup show, before Qatar kicked off against Ecuador. However, it wasn’t to be for the hosts, as they fell short in the first half, conceding 2 to the Ecuadorian striker, Enner Valencia. Ecuador continued to dominate throughout the second half, and the game indeed ended 2-0 to the south americans. Despite Qatar’s droopy performance, their fans stayed positive, and were singing right up to the end.

Monday saw 3 more games, 1 from Group A and the 2 Group B games. The Netherlands capitalized on Sadio Mané’s injury absence, and won 2-0 as well, although the match was fairly contested.

In Group B, England started their campaign off with a monumental demolition of Iran. Gareth Southgate’s attacking formation saw the 3 lions’ youngsters burst into action: Bellingham scored the opener, with Saka scoring a double and Rashford getting the 5^th. Porto’s striker Taremi managed to get 2 for Iran however, but it wasn’t enough to put a scratch on the 6-2 victory for England.

In the other game, Wales secured a late point against the USA, with a fantastic Gareth Bale penalty with 10 minutes to go; it ended 1-1.

On Tuesday, we saw 2 0-0 draws unfortunately, with Denmark vs Tunisia and Mexico vs Poland both ending with no goals. However, in the latter game, Mexico’s keeper Guillermo Ochoa saving Lewandowski’s penalty was a highlight, and a strong performance throughout for him.

In the excitement of the day, Messi’s penalty against Saudi Arabia could not stop the Middle Eastern side from pulling off the first massive shock of the Tournament, coming from behind with 2 early second half goals to win 2-1.

In the evening, France vs Australia looked like it could follow suit, with Craig Goodwin putting the Aussies ahead inside 10 minutes. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, as France dominated throughout the game, and Giroud’s double helped them win 4-1.

On Wednesday, we saw yet another goalless result, with neither Croatia nor Morocco able to break the deadlock.

Japan did manage to follow in Saudi Arabia’s footsteps however, and they too came from behind against the Germans to win 2-1, this time with a quickfire double with less than 15 minutes left on the clock.

In the other Group E fixture, we saw Spain absolutely destroy Costa Rica, with a 7-0 thrashing, including goals from their young talent, such as Ferran Torres, Gavi and Dani Olmo. The Costa Ricans were thoroughly beaten in every aspect of the game imaginable.

Back in Group F, Belgium managed to pull off a 1-0 win against Canada, despite the Canadians having staggering total of 22 shots and an expected goals of 2.6, which was aided by Alphonso Davies’s saved penalty.  

On Thursday, Switzerland secured a 1-0 victory over Cameroon, after a closely fought game, but fairly unexciting one. Uruguay and South Korea both struggled to score, with their game ending without a goal.

In Cristiano Ronaldo’s first appearance since his dramatic departure from Manchester United, his penalty in the second half led onto a flurry of goals, with Portugal scoring 2 more against Ghana, who managed to get 1 in. However, the game ended in suspense as Ghana scored to make it 3-2, before 9 minutes were added on. In the dying seconds, Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa didn’t notice Inaki Williams behind him, and laid the ball down casually in front of him. Inaki made a desperate lunge for the ball, but he slipped at the vital moment!

In the final game of round 1, Brazil took on Serbia in Group G. Brazil were looking nervous in the first half, but a goal for Richarlison in the second really opened the game up, which played into Brazil’s hand. Another goal from Richarlison followed, but it was a truly spellbinding strike, with a touch with his left foot, a swivel, and a magnificent hooked volley into the bottom left corner.  

In conclusion, the first round of fixtures has shown us a few things:

• France, Brazil and England are still top contenders to win it.
• Spain could go very far in this tournament
• Belgium shouldn’t be 2^nd in the FIFA rankings
• Germany and Argentina are frauds
• Japan and Saudi Arabia could cause upsets in their groups.

Another report of the second round of fixtures will come soon!

Photo sources:

• Metro UK
• ITV
• New Straits Times
• The Daily Star
• Mint
• iDiski Times
• tag24
• fourfourtwo